A Moment's Inattention
by VioletLink7
Summary: A moment's inattention could change your whole life, I learned. Just a second's distraction could fracture everything you knew. Danny first-person PoV.


Hi guys! I haven't posted in sooooooo long! I have a simple and valid excuse for that. College. Yep, I started college! I'm loving it :) but I don't get as much time to write. I'm working on some larger fics (You can read a bit about them on my profile), but I started writing this in my school notebook. I added to it between classes (and, admittedly, during them sometimes) when I could and finished it yesterday. Short and sweet, I hope you like it! (I'm considering making this a series...) Enjoy and please review! :D

**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Danny Phantom._

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**A Moment's Inattention**

"Dad, do you have to drive so fast?" I asked my father, panicking. Dad had dragged me out of the house on a Saturday morning because one of my parents' new inventions detected ghost activity on the other side of town. Mom was on a college tour with Jazz, so I was forced to be my dad's sidekick.

"Come on, Danny-boy!" Dad replied enthusiastically. "There's a ghost attacking!"

"But Dad, how do you know it's attacking? It could be minding its own business or your scanner-thingy could be wrong," I protested in a pointless effort to get him to go home. Dad would never give up a chance to hunt ghosts, but I could try, right?

"Well, I suppose I don't _know_ it's working," Dad frowned, "but if it is, people could be in danger." He looked at me—away from the road, I might add—and continued, "And Danny, you know all ghosts are evil! They don't mind their own business." I sighed, looking out the window; I didn't want to have this fight today.

What I saw out the window, though, terrified me. My dad must have run a red light when he looked away to lecture me—there was a car heading straight for us! There was no time for either car to stop. Dad and I would be okay on account of the armored GAV, but what about the people in the other car?

Smashing into the GAV at forty miles an hour would very likely kill them. That thought cinched it for me—to hell with the consequences to me. All of this passed through my brain in less than a second; I grabbed the dashboard and turned myself, Dad, and the GAV intangible.

Dad was still looking at me, probably intending to make sure I understood the evils of ghosts, when the car passed through us. His face went through an almost comical range of emotions from surprise, to confusions, to something like anger, and back to utter confusion. I was curious what he was thinking, but afraid to find out. I kept the GAV intangible until he pulled into the Nasty Burger parking lot.

"What just happened?" he asked dazedly as we flickered back to tangibility. I wondered what I was supposed to say now, was there any way to get out with my secret intact? It was very unlikely, but I was going to try anyway.

"Some friendly ghost was passing by, saw we were about to crash, and decided to help?" I ventured.

"Danny, I keep telling you, there are no friendly ghosts!"

"What about Casper?" This was probably a bad time to be joking, but I couldn't help it.

"Danny…"

"Honestly, Dad, I can't believe you think every ghost is evil just because the good ones stay in the ghost zone," I said without thinking.

"What do you mean, Danny? How could you know that?" he asked skeptically.

"I—uh—" my _amazing_ power to make up stories was failing me.

"Yes?"

I slumped in my seat, defeated, "Because I've been there."

Dad took a deep breath before asking me simply, "Why?"

"Well, the first time wasn't my fault! I was sitting in the Specter Speeder and either you or Mom hit the back of it while you were fighting. It started up on its own and flew through the portal!" I defended.

"The first time?" he asked. Oops. I was so not getting out of this one.

"Yeah…um, do you remember the portal accident two years ago?" I asked. Here goes nothing.

"Of course I do, Danny, but what does that have to do with you going to the Ghost Zone?"

I sighed, "Everything." Instead of elaborating, I looked at Dad, silently pleading with him to understand. I focused on my core, pulling out my ghost half. My eyes were closed so I didn't see my dad's reaction to the rings I felt changing my every cell from human to ghost.

I barely registered the feeling of being sucked into the Fenton Thermos. It was a strange mixture of half-awareness and the feeling of being smashed. The next thing I knew, I was released into the clear, phase-proof containment unit in the lab.

"Dad?" I tried asking before remembering the containment was sound-proof. I had no idea what to think; he wasn't even facing me, he was at the lab computer. After what seemed like hours, but was probably closer to ten minutes, Dad walked over to me.

Without a word, he pushed a button on the outside of my prison that opened a slot in the wall. I'd been standing right next to it, and he reached up and plucked a hair from my head before I could back away. Dad stared at it for a second, like he expected it to vanish, before closing the slot and going back to the lab computer.

He put the snowy strand in what I recognized as my parents' Fenton Analyzer (Mom named it). They'd just invented it a month or so ago; it could analyze all types of DNA and even ecto-signatures. Minutes later, Dad removed my white hair and replaced it with a black strand. What was he doing? Was that my comb on the desk?

It didn't take a genius to conclude that he wanted proof it was me and not a ghost posing as me. Or maybe I just hoped her did, because it meant he was considering the possibility. Time passed by agonizingly slowly while the computer worked.

I couldn't tell you how long I stood there staring at my father's back, but he eventually stood up and walked over to me, a solemn expression on his face. I was growing more and more anxious with each step he took. When he reached the containment unit, he, surprisingly, hit the 'open' button. I was still unsure, so I didn't move, but Dad walked inside and pulled me into a hug.

"I'm so sorry, Danny."

"It's alright, Dad," I gasped, "but even halfas need to breathe." He released me, looking confused.

"Halfas?" he asked.

"That's what a half-human, half-ghost is called," I informed him. It was so surreal to be telling him this.

"Are there more like you?" he asked curiously.

"I'm the second halfa; the first tried to clone me, creating a third, but that's it."

"Someone cloned you?!" Dad was, understandably, shocked. I nodded and absently wondered where Danielle was and how she was doing.

"Obviously this whole…halfa…thing…is only the tip of the iceberg."

"It's been two years, Dad," I reminded him. Secrets could snowball quite a bit in two years. Wait until he heard about my fame in the Far Frozen. Or that the Master of Time was my guardian.

"Right, well, can we save that for another day?" Dad asked. "This is enough shock for today."

I laughed, "No problem."

"And, of course, we'll have to tell your mother and sister when they get back tomorrow."

"Jazz already knows," I sighed, "but okay, I'll tell Mom." I knew it would be better if she knew (especially since Dad did), but it was hard to let go of a two-year-old secret.

"You told Jazz?" he sounded a little hurt.

"No, she figured it out," I huffed.

"That's my Jazzerincess!" he laughed.

"Hey, Dad, I'm going to go see what that ghost alarm was about…just in case it wasn't a false alarm, y'know," I said, floating up. "Can we have pizza for dinner when I get back?"

"Sure we can. I'm proud of you, Danny," he smiled at me. I grinned before phasing through the ceiling. A moment's inattention could change your entire life.

But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.


End file.
